10 CURCULIONID^. 



bidentate internally (fig. 2), but in the species with a slender 

 rostrum they are prominent, flattened, triangular and pointed 

 at the apex. In the EHYXcmxix.E they are toothed on the 

 external edge, while in several Jarge Cala:sdrin.5; the outer sur- 

 face is produced into a long recurved process (tig. 6), which at 

 first sight might be thought to belong to the gena. The Bala- 

 niniNjE present a very remarkable anomaly in the structure of 

 the mandibles, for tlie condyles are dorsal in position, instead 

 of at the sides, so that the mandibles work vertically side by 

 side, instead of being horizontal and opposed. 



Antenna'. — The antennae may be situated anywhere between 

 the base and the apex of the rostrum ; they are generally in- 

 serted at the side, but if on the upper surface, they will always 

 be found at the apex (commonly so in the Adelognathi), whereas 

 in the comparatively few cases in \\ Inch they are placed beneath, 

 they are always well behind the middle. 



There are two well-marked types, namely, those in which the 

 first joint is very long (being then known as the scape), so that 

 the a!itennfe are elbowed, or geniculate ; and those in which this 

 joint is short, the whole organ being straigiit or gradually curved. 

 The use of this character for one of the main divisions of the 

 family, which was originally suggested by Schonherr and recently 

 adopted by Kolbe (Arch." Xaturges. 1901, Beiheft, p. 143), is 

 very unsatisfactory, as it leads to an obviously unnatural grouping 

 of the genera. 



Lacordaire considered that the normal number of joints in the 

 antenna is 12; but, as he himself admitted, one would be quite 

 justitied in regarding the very small terminal joint, whicli is 

 usually indistinct and very often indistinguishable, as being merely 

 a false joint, like that which so often occurs among the Chry- 

 SOMELIB.B, Cerambycid^, Elateihu.t;, etc. The antenna is 

 usually treated as consisting of three portions: — (1) the scape, 

 consisting only of the basal joint ; (2) the funicle, which normally 

 comprises 7 joints, the number varying from 4 to 8; and (3) a 

 terminal club, composed normally of 3 or 4 joints. 



The scape varies greatly in length, but even in the species 

 with straight antennae it is, with very rare exceptions, longer 

 than the first joint of the funicle. In the great majority of 

 Abelognathi the scape reaches beyond the front margin of the 

 eye, whereas this is rarely the case in the species with a long 

 rostrum. The most notable exception to the latter rule is to be 

 found in an Australasian group of Cryptorohynchin.e, the 

 Mecistostybini ; in the males of a Mecomastiix from New 

 Caledonia the scape is at least as long as the whole insect and 

 may be four times as long. 



In by far the greatest number of species the funicle is com- 

 posed of 7 joints, but those in which there are only 6 are fairly 

 numerous, even if we exclude the forms in which the 7th joint 

 is partly annexed to the club, nearly all of them occurring in 



